All about "Light" at Canon's Science Lab at the Canon Technology website

In one of my recent Internet news quests, I stumbled upon Canon's Technology site. This little known website offers a wealth of information for those interested in technologies behind photography and digital cameras. It is an excellent resource to learn all about technology applied in the Canon products you use everyday. In the Canon Science Lab section you will even find the most commonplace phenomena explained, to help you understand the scientific principles behind them, and learn how this will drive the technology for the future...

Why Is the Sky Blue? Why is the Sunset Red?Just one of the interesting stories at Canon's Science Lab...

Blue and red are two components of light. Blue light has a short wavelength, while the wavelength of red is long. The shorter the wavelength, the stronger the light scattered. (Blue light is strongly scattered.)

During the day, the sky looks blue because of this strong scattering. At dawn and dusk, light passes through the atmosphere for a longer period, which scatters blue light waves. Red and orange, with their longer wavelengths, dominate because they scatter less, which is why the sky looks red early in the day and when the sun is setting.